A potential school shooting was avoided after a mother, Carla Tuttle, called school officials after realizing kitchen knives were missing from her house; she feared her son may have taken them to school. It was only once her son, 11-year-old Quincy Tuttle, was detained that it was revealed that he actually possessed a gun and ammunition, which he was planning to use against another classmate.

The mother of an 11-year-old boy called school administrators to report her son may have taken kitchen knives to school, and that's what led police to find 400 rounds of ammunition and a gun in his possession, according to court documents released Thursday.

Vancouver police school resource officers detained the boy at Frontier Middle School on Wednesday at 9 a.m. after the mother's phone call. They said they found a .22 caliber handgun in his front pants pocket.

Detectives interviewed school administrators, and were told the boy said a voice in his head was telling him to kill a classmate for calling his friend gay, the court documents said.

In a later interview with police, the boy told detectives he planned to shoot his classmate in the arm, and then shoot himself in the head,

The boy's alleged shooting plot was stopped because his mother called the school to report him as a potential danger, detectives said.

.......

A written statement from the family said they "noticed some items missing from our home. Immediately, we contacted the school to alert them of our concerns."

"We are at a loss for words and deeply saddened for the fear that these circumstances have caused," the statement said. "We are cooperating with law enforcement, school personnel and mental health officials to ensure our son gets the help he needs."

Scary stuff. Credit goes to the parents and school officials for acting quickly, but now the real questions arise.

How does an 11-year-old get access to a gun and 400 rounds of ammo?The Columbian reports that the gun was taken from his family's home, though a police spokesperson wouldn't say if the gun had been locked up.

Was his friend the victim of anti-gay bullying? Or was this all a product of what was going on in a mentally disturbed boy's head?

The boy is being held on charges of first-degree attempted assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a dangerous weapon on school facilities.